No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers hold on for ugly win against No. 25 Auburn

In a game where both squads shot well below 30% from the field, it was the Tennessee Volunteers who found enough on offense to pull out the win, 46-43.

Senior guard Josiah-Jordan James of the Volunteers led the way with his first double-double of the season tallying 15 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.

For Auburn, sophomore forward Johni Broome almost added a double-double of his own. He led Auburn in scoring with 11 points while also registering 9 boards.

Broome, a transfer from Morehead State, has been an impact player for the Tigers all year. He is averaging 13.6 points per game (second on the team) and leads the team in rebounds with 8.9 per game.

As a team, Tennessee shot 27% from the field and a measly 9.5% from beyond the arc. This comes immediately after their tough double-digit loss to Florida in which they shot 27.9% from the floor and 20% from three.

If it wasn’t their historic field gold percentage defense which forced Auburn to shoot under 24% from the field and 3-27 from three, it would have been their second straight loss.

Tennessee Volunteers defeat Auburn, 46-43

By the numbers:

Auburn jumped out the gates beginning the game on a 8-0 run. Tennessee clawed back and eventually added an 8 point run run of their own early in the second half.

Both teams combined for just 5 three’s and shot 10.4% from deep.

It wasn’t so bad at the free throw line for Auburn as they went 14-19 (73.7%) from the charity stripe. The Tigers also had two men score in double figures and two men score 9 points each.

Looking forward:

After their loss to Florida on Wednesday, the Volunteers will drop from No. 2 in the AP Poll and unfortunately for them, their schedule is about to heat up.

Next Wednesday they play a .500 Vanderbilt team but after that the road gets difficult with Missouri (17-5), Alabama (19-4), and Kentucky (15-7) starring down the barrel.

For Auburn, they have Missouri and Alabama coming up as well but most importantly they will need to shake off this loss.

Saturday was their first game scoring under 60 points since November, which was their sixth game of the year against Northwestern.

Tennessee improves to 19-4 (8-2 in conference) and Auburn falls to 17-6 (7-3 in conference).